Sony Bravia Z9D 4K HDR TV review

It may be the baby of Sony’s 2016 flagship television range, but the 65in Bravia Z9D 4K HDR TV comes fully outfitted for a trip to home entertainment heaven.

We’re not just talking 4K Ultra HD pictures, but full HDR support - as well as a dazzling bevy of built-in streaming features.

So is that little lot worth the eye-watering S$8999 asking price?

Desirable design

It more than justifies the investment if you're looking for a drop dead gorgeous TV to act as your living room centrepiece.

Sure, it's not the skinniest screen we’ve seen, but even with the few centimetres of padding on the back it's no porker; the Z9D looks svelte and every inch a premium TV.

That's partly down to the tiny sliver of bezel surrounding the screen, which focuses your attention on the picture. The other part is the subtle matt-gold accent around the TV’s edges and stand. It’s not OTT – more a peacockish flourish that points to the TV’s status at the top of Sony’s range.

The stand, on the other hand, is a sensible rectangle – not one of those daft long ones that span the length of the set so you can’t fit them on to your TV stand, and idiot-proof to assemble.

Even the remote control feels good in your hand. The flat, rubbery buttons are responsive and intuitive, and the metal back screams "high end".

The grid pattern on the back looks smart, and also camouflages the panels that snap off to reveal all of the Z9D’s connections.

While other TVs are equally uncluttered and seamless, the Z9D’s grid design really makes the panels invisible. You can also feed the cables through the stand to make cable management even neater. No more cord spaghetti.

Hidden underneath those panels are four HDMI inputs (all specified to 4K/HDCP 2.2 standards, with two supporting HDR so you can play 4K Blu-rays), an optical output, three USB ports, composite and scart connections, and Freeview HD and satellite tuners.

You can connect to your home network using Wi-Fi, but for a more stable connection, there’s wired Ethernet to make sure you get the full buffer-free blast of a 4K stream over Netflix or Amazon Video.

Smart TV, done smartly

Android TV remains the backbone of Sony’s smart TV platform - this time version 6.0 Marshmallow.

It’s maybe not as colourful and fun as Panasonic’s Firefox or LG’s WebOS, but it’s easy to navigate through the orderly list of catch-up TV services, on-demand video apps, Google Play apps and more.